The Virus: Code Red
by Stardust16
Summary: When Ryan gets sick, the guys think it's just the common cold. Unfortunately, their suspicions are wrong and as they realize it, they also realize Ryan's "cold" is fatal and his life is, in fact, on the line. With the help of an untrustworthy ally, how far are they willing to go to save it? Takes place in a future season 2. Rated T.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay guys, so this is my brand new story!**

 **Originally I wasn't going to post this so soon, but, I don't know, I'm really bored today and have accomplished pretty much nothing, so I thought I'd put this up so y'all can get a good look at the first chapter. I know it's pretty short, but most of my stories are.**

 **Oh, and another thing; this takes place in season two! Yayy! You'll probably be able to tell that though, once you read it, but I thought I'd mention it up here just in case. XD.**

 **The characters _might_ also be a bit OOC in this chapter, but I tried my best. Hopefully my characterization will get better once the show comes back on and season two airs.**

* * *

 _8:00 am, Tuesday morning._

"Ugh..."

Ryan groaned as he woke up at exactly eight am on Tuesday morning. Usually he'd be excitedly for school, but today he just felt sick to his stomach. _'And on the day the school reopens too,'_ He thought to himself as he lied in bed, wanting to drown out the world around him, _'Ugh, terrific. Really, that's—that's just great.'_

Unfortunately for Ryan, his thoughts didn't last long, because, at that moment, Mark barged into his room, like he'd been doing everyday for the past ten years, accidentally slamming the door against the wall as he did so.

"Whoops," the basketball player stated with a wince and sheepish smile as the slam echoed throughout the house. It didn't affect his enthusiasm at all though, as he was still jumping with joy, ready to start the day. "Come on, Ryan! Time to get up!" He exclaimed as he yanked the sheets off his brothers bed with a laugh, "Sure hope you're for school today, 'cause the awesome Mark Walker is right now!"

Ryan groaned as he pulled the sheets back on his head and ducked underneath them. "No," He moaned, the emotion in his tone filled with pain and suffering. "Just leave me here to die on my deathbed."

"What?" Mark asked, confused, as he knelt down beside his brothers bed, concerned. "But you love school." He had then placed a hand on the technopath's forehead, trying to feel for a fever, and frowned when he realized his brother was a bit warmer than usual. "You alright man?"

"I feel like death," Ryan deadpanned.

"You wanna stay home?" Mark offered as he stood up and pointed over his shoulder. "I can always ask Mom. I could use it too." He had then chuckled and shook his head. "Three months isn't as nearly enough time as it is to do whatever you want."

Ryan sighed. He really didn't want to go to school, but he also really didn't want to have anybody worry about him. He hated it when people worried about him, especially him himself. After all, why would somebody wanna worry about him when they could always worry about somebody better? It just didn't make any sense. Not to him, at least.

"Nah," He said after a moment as he gestured toward the door. "You can go off and I'll meet you there."

"Alright," Mark muttered as he shifted his backpack and headed out the door with a wave. "Don't be late, 'kay? See you there in five."

"See ya," Ryan agreed with a wave. Once Mark was gone, he proceeded to pull on a white simple shirt and a pair of black ripped jeans before sighing again. He _really_ didn't wanna go to school, but he also didn't want anyone to worry about him. That, and the team didn't need any problems. Things had been going so well for them without any monsters lately and he just didn't wanna ruin it or jinx their luck.

The technopath had then checked his phone and frowned. He'd been worrying for the past fifteen minutes and Mark would be suspicious if and didn't show up for school. So, without a second thought, he stood up and headed out the door, hoping his nauesea would go away and wouldn't last throughout the day.

* * *

 **So, how was that for the first chapter? The last time I edited this was probably about a week ago, but hopefully it's still as** **good as the time I wrote it.**

 **Obviously something's up with Ryan. I wonder what it could be?...She said knowing everything that's about to happen and go down XD. Don't worry though, the drama's gonna come up soon. XD :) Promise. :)**

 **I think that's it for the first chapter, but don't forget to tell me what you think in the reviews! I already have nine chapters pre written and I can't wait to share more with you guys! :)**

 **~Star :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay guys, so here's another chapter. It's kinda short, but hopefully it's good nevertheless. I would've posted it last night for this morning, but I was drawing, felt kinda dizzy and had a rough time going to sleep (I woke up at six am! Like what the heck?!).** **Anyway though, here's the chapter! Enjoy!**

* * *

 _12:15 pm. At this time it's Tuesday afternoon._

"Ryan? ...Uh, Ryan?"

"Hmm?" Ryan asked as he looked up at his two friends and snapped out of his trance. They'd been talking in the halls during one of the rare breaks they had in between classes and although Ryan favoured and cherished these breaks, he hadn't been up to it today since he'd gotten a headache in math and it only increased as the day went on. "Sorry, what?"

"Are you okay?" Harris asked, curiously. "You look pale..."

"And you've been zoning out for the past ten minutes," Spyder added.

Harris nodded. "Yeah."

"But I zone out all the time in math and science, so it's not like it's a big deal," Spyder finished with a smile to himself, as Harris turned to glare at him before the two directed their attention back to their friend.

"Guys," Ryan replied. "Honestly, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be? We've had no monsters for a while, everything's fine." The boy had then turned to his side and began to open his locker. Or, rather tried to. It was stuck. When Spyder and Harris gave him doubting looks though, he continued. "Everything's great, everything's—" Suddenly the locker opened and hit the technopath right in the face, making him fall and collapse, right there on the spot.

"—Perfect," Ryan mumbled sarcastically as his eyes flickered closed and he passed out. "Just... _Perfect_."

* * *

 _3:15 pm, Tuesday afternoon. School ended about half an hour ago._

When Ryan came to, he felt sick and had a splitting headache. Once he opened his eyes, he quickly closed them once more, breathing quick deep breaths as he shrunk back into the sheets of the med bed and shifted around, feeling nauseous from the light.

"Calm down," a voice stated, one that Ryan realized was his older brother. "Ryan, calm down, man. You're okay, you're alright."

"W-W-What happened?" Ryan asked quickly, as he opened his eyes once again. In response, someone turned the light down just a bit, though Ryan didn't even try to sit up, in fear his stomach would flip again.

"You passed out," Mark explained shortly. He wasn't there at the time it happened and though he knew the basics, he didn't think he'd be the best person for the retelling of just a few hours ago. He had then looked to Harris, who was fumbling around with the machines. "How's it going over there, Harry? Got anything yet?"

"It's Harris," the small genius boy grumbled as he pushed different buttons of all the scientific inventions in front of him. "And so far, nothing. Don't worry though; I've fixed things before, so this should be a piece of cake."

Ryan looked between the two, confused. "W-What's going on?"

Mark sighed as he looked over toward the team's researcher and gestured toward him. "Well, since you passed out and were completely out of it for the past three hours, we had Harry Potter over here—"

"Hey!"

"Don't be offended, he's one of the greatest wizards of our time." Mark had then chuckled before turning his attention back to his baby brother. "Anyway, since you were so out of it, we had Harry Potter over here scan you just in case." He had then punched his younger brother lightly on the shoulder, to which Ryan rubbed his injury.

"What was that for?!" The technopath asked, his shoulder now sore.

Mark narrowed his eyes in disbelief. "For going to school today!" He exclaimed, as if it couldn't be more obvious. "I told you so! I knew you shouldn't have gone!"

"And the great Mark Walker's right once again," Ryan said, annoyed, as he closed his eyes for a minute before rolling them. "What a surprise..."

"Hey, you're the one who almost died!"

"I _fainted_ ," Ryan clarified, "I didn't _die_."

"Um, yeah, you didn't," Harris interrupted with a nervous look on his face, "But—But you _could_..."

The two boys stared at their genius friend, shocked, though Mark was more angry than anything else.

"Wait, what?!" Mark jumped up from his seat, as Ryan began to sit up, only for the former to push him down. "No," He told the technopath, "Stay down. You need to rest." The mechanic had then turned his attention back to the small genius and roughly pulled him outside. "What do you mean, Harris?!" Mark demanded, "What's going on?!"

"Well, you see..." Harris trailed off as he handed Mark the tablet he was holding, "I-I _think_ I might've found what's wrong with Ryan..."

* * *

 **Update: Okay, so I _was_ editing this and finishing it up in my room, but there's a fly in there, so... Yeah, I'm scared to go back in. Don't judge me! *cowers in corner* XD**

 **Hopefully this chapter's good. I'm kinda stuck on chapter nine or ten right now, but hopefully my writer's block won't last that long. I already know the direction the story's gonna go in, but I'm not sure if I want the characters to be betrayed sooner or later, so I'll figure that out along the way. Maybe later, since that'll create more drama and endanger Ryan even more. XD**

 **Haha, I'm so evil XD.**

 **Instead of just hanging up this authors note right now though, I wanna talk about something else.**

 **The new movie _Everything, Everything_!**

 **Who's gonna see it?! Or who's already seen it? If so, please don't tell me because I'm gonna go see it next weekend, but doesn't it look _so_ good?! And Nick Robinson is in it! He did great in _The 5th Wave_! I'm so excited to see him in this film, but I was actually really confused 'cause I didn't recognize him at first. XD. Haha, silly me.**

 **Anyway though, _now_ I'm gonna hang up this chapter.**

 **I hope you all liked it and please tell me what you think in the reviews! :) Next chapter will be up soon!**

 **~Star :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! I haven't updated in a while and I'm so sorry! It's been like, what, a week? But I caught a cold from my brother and somehow managed to jinx myself again while writing a Mech-X4 story. _Great_.**

 **Just one thing I'd like to mention before I start this chapter off: there _is_ some Latin in it. I spent a while looking for Latin phrases and managed to find a couple I really liked. Did you guys know that Latin is actually a really pretty and beautiful language? Like, if I wasn't taking Spanish, I'd totally take Latin! It sounds so nice!**

 **So, yeah, that's it. The Latin's italicized though, so you should know what it is. If you're confused with the pronunciation, I'll type it up at the bottom.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _3:20 pm. The four are still at, well, Mech-X4._

"Wait, what?" Mark asked, as he leaned forward and listened intently. "What's wrong with him? What do you mean? He's just sick, isn't he? It's just the flu, right?"

Harris sighed. "I'd like to say so," He said, sadly, "But, unfortunately, that isn't the case." He had then pointed towards a outline of the robots system on the tablet before speaking once more. "You see this here? Yeah, that's not supposed to be there. It's a virus, and I don't know how long it's been there, but from how bad Ryan's reacting to it himself, I'd say about two months or so."

"Okay, so Mech-X4's had a virus for two months, so what?" Mark asked, rhetorically. "I'll just fix the robot, reset it or whatever, and—boom!—everything's fine."

Harris bit his lip, nervously. "It's not that easy," He explained, "You see, while the virus doesn't affect Mech-X4 that much, it affects Ryan a lot. It takes a toll on him, and the longer that it's in the robot and his powers—which are connected to his heart and brain—the faster—"

"He'll die," Mark stated, bluntly. He had then shrugged as he managed to put the pieces together. "So, it's like a poison to him, in other words."

Harris nodded and took the tablet out of the mechanic's hands before making another picture appear on the screen—this time, it was an herb of some kind. Kind of like an eggplant with its oval shape, but instead if having just green at the top, it instead had a leafy top, decorated with green and red. "Yes," the genius confirmed, "But we can't cure him the same way he cure Mech-X4. It's been in both of them for months, yes, but since we haven't done anything to make it worse for the robot, it hasn't gotten worse. For Ryan, though..."

"It manifests quicker to a human than it does with a machine, if said person is physically active."

"Exactly," Harris said as he pointed towards the plant on the screen. "The robot can be fixed easy, no problem—either I can do that or you can—but Ryan can't. He actually requires a cure, one that we can't just whip out of thin air."

"What's it called?" Mark questioned as he took the tablet from the small boy, using his index finger and thumb to zoom in so he could get a better look.

" _Cadere de caelo in terram_ ," Harris answered, to which Mark shot him a funny look, and Harris rolled his eyes. It means _'from the sky to the ground'_ , as the first civilians here in Bay City thought it came from the sky and landed somewhere in the woods on their earth. It's often referred to as the _ederedac,_ though, if that's any easier for you to pronounce."

"And this'll cure Ryan?" Mark asked, eagerly.

"—What'll cure Ryan?" Spyder asked as he wandered into the hallway and interrupted the two who were talking.

"The _ederedac_ ," Harris replied, to which Spyder shot him a confused look, just like Mark.

"It's a plant found in the middle of the woods," Mark deadpanned, bluntly, as he narrowed his eyes at the hat-wearing boy.

"And you'll both be going to get it."

"Wait, what?!" The two boys exclaimed as they followed the intelligent (or rather, not-so-intelligent) genius back into the medical bay. "How come we have to go get it?!" They screamed simultaneously, as they looked at each other, slightly creeped out, before they turned their attention back to the smaller boy.

"'Cause I have to stay and monitor Ryan!" At that moment, the technopath groaned and whimpered as he held his stomach, which made Mark glance over, worriedly. "I don't know if you've noticed this guys, but he's not exactly in shape to go and venture into the woods, looking for some strange plant. He's—" Harris had then paused. "He _could_ be dying!"

"I-I feel like I'm dying," Ryan supplied, helpfully, from his spot on the medical bed. He had then groaned once more and closed his eyes, the headache he received from earlier having returned, before pouring the remains of his stomach out into a trash can nearby, deeply breathing once it stopped.

Mark shook his head and sighed as he walked over to his younger brother. Once beside him, he felt his forehead and his worry only increased as he discovered it was hotter than before. In fact, he was pretty sure Ryan was burning up with fever.

"Fine," He agreed, defeatedly, as he glanced at Ryan before turning back to his two other teammates. "What do we have to do?"

* * *

 **So yeah, that's it for now. Just so you guys know, _ederedac_ is actually just _cadere de_ spelled backwards. And it's supposed to be pronounced as Ed-ear-a-dack. I know, kinda weird XD. **

**Let me know what you thought about the chapter though! Hope you guys liked it, even though it was a bit short!**

 **~Star :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm backkkk!**

 **And I bet I scared you guys, didn't I?**

 **Im SO sorry for being gone for such a long time! It's been almost two months since I've updated this and I did NOT mean to leave this on hold for so long.**

 **The only reason it was on hold though, just to be clear, was because I felt like it was moving too fast.**

 **Not because I was doubting myself, like I was on Wattpad.**

 **Hopefully you guys forgive me, but until then, enjoy the rest of the story!**

* * *

 _5:35 pm. Mark and Spyder are trailing out into the woods._

"Harris?" Mark called as he adjusted his earpiece and made his way through the woods, as Spyder walked along in front of him. "Harris?"

Mark heard rustling footsteps through the receiver before a voice came on. "Sorry, Mark," The teenage genius apologized, "I was checking on Ryan. What's up?"

"How is he?" Mark questioned, deciding his question could wait.

"Well," Harris said nervously. "In the past two hours you've been gone, he's had four nightmares and his fever's spiked thrice, but other than that, he's completely fine."

"How high?"

"103.5."

"Gosh, that's way too high."

"Yeah, you're telling me," Harris replied as he walked over to the medical bed and placed a wet washcloth on the unconscious technopath's head. "But there's no way to bring it down." He had then headed back over and hopped onto his swivel office chair, before glancing at the monitor. "So how's it going down there, Mark? What'd you call for?"

"What direction do we go in? Spyder and I are starting to think we're running in circles here, Hedwig."

"West, North, straight, straight, straight, then take a left," the genius boy answered. "And remember, the plant looks like an eggplant, but with green and red near a leafy top, okay?"

"Got it," Mark stated before he turned off the earpiece. Once he did, however, a voice rang out and echoes through the forest.

"Mark!" came the scream of the hat-wearing boy.

The mechanic groaned, annoyed, but nonetheless dragged himself over to where the weapons specialist was. "Yeah," He asked, tiredly, "What is it, Spicy?"

"How are we gonna get up to the top of the mountain?" Spyder inquired, too confused to notice the mistake in Mark's statement.

"Wait, what?!" As Mark looked up, nearly blinded by the sun shining down on them, he groaned in exasperation. The mountain in front of him seemed it like it was a hundred and fifty feet tall, probably more. Not only that, but the mountain looked extremely unstable, like it could snap or crumble at any moment.

Mark shook his head, sighing. "Dang..."

* * *

 _5:40 pm. Five minutes later, with Harris and Ryan, back at Mech-X4._

While Mark and Spyder were trying to figure out a way up the mountain, Harris sat in his swivel chair. Currently, he was watching the surveillance footage from all their old battles, but stopped once somebody came into the room and interrupted him.

"Harris, where are—dear gosh, what the heck happened to Ryan?" The older genius robot-builder asked as he came into the room, cutting himself off once he took a look at the sick and unconscious technopath.

"Virus," Harris explained, to which Leo nodded, understandably. As he spoke though, his frantic tone became more and more evident. "Mark and Spyder are trying to find the cure, but so far they've turned up with nothing, and if we don't find something or they don't find it soon, Ryan could–"

"Die," Leo finished on cue, as if he'd rehearsed it over and over.

"Yeah." Harris nodded. He had then looked puzzled, before asking, "Wait, how'd you know?"

"Because I—Because I knew someone who had the virus too. Another technopath, if you will."

"Wait, what?!" Harris inquired, shocked. His worried tone had faded and was now replaced with an excited one. Too excited, perhaps. "Another technopath?! There's _more?!_ "

"There used to be," Leo emphasized. When Harris' expression turned addled, he continued explaining further. "They died, Harris. And the technopath who died, they—they were one of Ryan's parents..."

* * *

 **Wait, what'd I do there?!**

 **Ryan's parents are dead?!**

 **Well, at least _one_ of them is.**

 **But, off that topic! Now, I wanted to let you guys know that I'm thinking of making this a mini-series. Since it takes place in a future season two, Seth is already dead, but we still have no idea about Ryan's parents.**

 **So, I was wondering if you guys are up for a sequel?**

 **If so, review below! If not, well, then review anyway! XD And please, let me know what you think! :)**

 **Until next time, Mechies!**

 **~Star :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**New chapter! And I'm a bit to tired to put a super-long author's note, so I'll just let you guys read on.**

 ***shrugs* Been a while since I last updated anyway.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _5:45 pm._

"Wait, Ryan's parents were technopaths?" Harris asked, astounded by the sudden information he just received. Maybe he finally had the answer to how Ryan got his powers. "So it's genetic? The powers and the virus?

"Not really," Leo answered, as he cast a glance over at the pilot, worried he'd wake him. "I mean, the power, of course it is, but the virus—"

Suddenly a cough interrupted them and the two genius looked over at the technopath, who was now awake and coughing uncontrollably. Once it ceased, Harris looked at his friend, worriedly, as did Leo.

"Ryan?" Leo questioned, with nervousness clear in his voice, "Are—Are you okay?"

As Ryan shook his head with his hand over his mouth, he gestured for Harris to place a trash can near him, which the young genius did, and Ryan began pouring the contents of his stomach into the waste bin once more. Leo sighed at this before leaving the room, pulling Harris roughly along with him.

"See!" Leo exclaimed, "This is what I'm talking about! He has the same symptoms as his father when he got the virus!" He had then began pacing back and forth, anxiously. "This—This isn't good, this isn't good, Harris."

"What? Why? If we cure Ryan, he's gonna live, right?"

"Yes, but..." Leo paused. He couldn't believe the words that he was gonna say were gonna leave his mouth. He sighed, closed his eyes, and shook his head, before speaking once more. "His father—Ryan's father— _didn't_."

Harris' jaw dropped, his mouth wide open. _"What?!"_ He asked, incredulously.

"Ryan's father was the original technopath, the one Seth was going after and the one Seth wanted to destroy. We were the original Mech-X4 team—Ryder, Raiana, and I—but we never actually took the robot into battle. Seth was jealous of us, and wanted to learn the secrets of technopathic powers for himself, so he sent a virus to the robot, which was bonded to Ryder. We learned about the virus too late and he ended up dying before we could stop it. I blamed myself for it ever since."

Harris looked confused, but also felt sorry for the man. "Didn't you notice anything?" He questioned, not meaning to be offensive, but rather curious. "Any symptoms at all?"

Leo shrugged. "I—I actually did, but I thought it was just Ryder bring Ryder—unpredictable and over dramatic. What I noticed most though was that he was sometimes in a bad mood and that he was swaying and coughing a lot, but I just passed that off as the common cold."

Harris sighed as he took notes. "That's understandable," He replied as he had then shook his head in shock and surprise. "I can't just believe that Ryan's parents were technopaths."

"It's in his genes," Leo said as the two walked back into the room and headed over to Ryan's bedside. "We'll have to tell him once he—" He had then take a look at the sleeping (or unconscious) technopath before continuing. "Wakes up."

"Tell me what?" Ryan asked as he looked up at the two geniuses, his eyes bleary and his vision foggy. "W-W—What were you guys t-t-talking a-about?"

Upon hearing the pilot's voice, Leo and Harris looked at each other, alarmed. They could _not_ let Ryan know this news. They couldn't let him know what happened to his parents. Not now, at least. For one, he was feeling unwell and for two, they didn't know how he would react. What if he injured himself or lost his voice while panicking or yelling?

That _wouldn't_ be good.

"Just that we need to start practicing with the Mech again once you're all better," Harris answered, thinking rather quickly. "Don't worry about that though; Mark and Spyder will be back soon and that's all you should be focusing on, besides getting better."

"O-O—Okay..." Ryan muttered, as his voice drifted off and his eyes started to close. He was too tired to ask anymore questions. After a minute, everything was silent and the technopath fell asleep once more.

"Nice save," Leo commented once a silence filled the room. He had then stared at the technopath and studied his pale face. "Does he have a fever?" He questioned, though he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

"Yeah," Harris confirmed. "But it's been spiking for the past two hours and although I hate to say this, I don't know what to do about it."

Leo pursed his lips and stood in thought for a moment. "I _might_ know a way to bring it down," He stated, "It _will_ take some time though and it definitely _won't_ save him, but it'll give us a few more hours, that's for sure."

Harris nodded. "That could work," He replied, "Thanks." As Leo nodded and left to begin on whatever he was going to find or make, Harris headed back over to the computers, sighing. The monitors were black (the mini cameras he put on Mark and Spyder's jackets must either be turned off or came off), so he couldn't see anything, but he assumed the two were doing well on their timed mission. Or he just hoped they were. They needed to.

 _'Mark, Spyder... Please hurry.'_

* * *

 **So, did you guys like it?**

 **I hope you did!**

 **Im gonna see if I can create a separate story—a sequel almost—where Ryan goes off to meet Raiana (his mom/my OC). If I can, then that's how this little series will get started, but I can't promise anything. *groans* I have school in a month...**

 **But, yeah, hopefully you guys liked it and if so, leave a little something—maybe a review?—down below to let me know what you think! :)**

 **Until next time!**

 **~Star :)**


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